Following the compass led her to an empty area that only showed the insides once she passed through an invisible divide. Having experienced this feeling before, she wasn’t as surprised. She only wondered when Jessica got her hands on this technology.
Walking into the makeshift camp, Jessica was a bit startled. They were still in the first layer. A place that was not very specific. Only because of the recency, she was sure she had scouted this area before.
In the span of possibly only a few hours, a complete camp with a tent and a bench and table was set up. There was a bonfire going with Dayo who was currently cooking. She didn’t see the maleficent horse anywhere.
Sensing her gaze, he turned to look at her, seeing her looking around. He smiled, “Billy is out hunting alone. For all their benefits, there are many drawbacks. Having been holding back, he needs to let off some steam. Along with recuperate energy used getting here.”
Before he could keep going about his trip deeper inside. Cassie came out of the tent. Having only moved with her for half the time she spent, the majority of which she went to gambling dens. The tent’s insides could be seen, showing it had wood walls. Showcasing the specialty of the Blue Wolf Tribe.
“Good, you’re here. Just so you know, today is the start of your training. So that means if you’re hungry…” Looking at the food currently being cooked. As if to play along, Dayo lifted the cover of the pot to let out an appetizing smell.
A mischievous smile hung below her eyes squinted in teasing joy, “You will have to go get it yourself. Of course, I am not evil. You can get Dayo to cook it for you. Only this will cost you. Therefore, starting now, you must trade for everything you use. Including sleeping inside the formation.”
Jessica wasn’t really surprised by this. She wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen. However, just hunting for the food, wasn’t enough to be considered training. There was a good chance the difficulty would continue to climb.
As if in character with Cassie’s character. Jessica couldn’t find Helga anywhere. It was possible she just wasn’t showing herself. Though if she had to bet. Her guess was that they were here for more than just training.
Cassie seemed to have the characteristic to always be doing something. Almost never, were her actions on the surface the only things happening. Though at the moment it was none of her business. Nor was there anything she could do to help, let along stop it.
With energy to spare, she didn’t sit and wait. With the compass now locked onto the camp. It didn’t matter where she went, it would always point in the right direction. There was a range, but she shouldn’t exceed it.
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With idea’s flowing through her mind, she was almost inclined to cook the food herself. On the other hand, depending on the price, it wasn’t such a bad thing to pay Dayo.
It was almost scary how much knowledge he had on animal and beast anatomy. He knew what could and couldn’t be eaten. Considering his specialty was supposed to be raising them, not cooking them. This byproduct was a strange development.
He wasn’t perfect though. On their journey, she came to understand that he seemed to learn his knowledge from the animals and beasts he raised. As they came across some poisonous plant, his excuse for trying to add them to the food was because it was the favorite food of a snake of his.
Having tasted some, thus he deemed it fine. It was only later that his tongue and mouth became numb from a delayed reaction. Complaining, he couldn’t taste anything, and bit his tongue a few times during the meal.
As she moved, she tried to scout out the areas she found to not yet be part of the wild dog's territory. As their numbers grew, so too did their patrol routes looking for new food. The monkeys had extended their patrol and there seemed to have a war on the horizon.
Almost as if knowing that if their numbers continue to grow, without aid from another group in a deeper layer. They will have a hard time keeping their territory in the first layer. Seeing such a logical action, she realized she had massively underestimated the monkeys.
Slowly she caught tracks. Moving slow, trying to make sure the coast was clear. Finally, with enough patience, she was able to confirm that it was a creature of relatively small size with decent weight. Looking to be a rabbit of some type.
With the expanding of the two big forces, it was surprisingly difficult to find many things outside of birds. Things that traveled on land, promptly became prey if spotted by those two. From an outside perspective, it was a strange thing to see signs of a war brewing.
All the more when the two about to fight were not people. Pushing through her distractions. Coming to a spot in a distant tree, she made out the creature she had been tracking.
Fearing moving too close, she found it a bit difficult to track, as she couldn’t just stomp her way on the ground. With the distance of the trees, it became problematic to travel by ground.
Further into the forbidden zone caused the trees to be larger, which allowed her to move carefully above the ground. The branches and leaves offering her a bit more cover than the distant trucks blocking the view from below.
It was light green, moving through some high grass that it was currently gnawing on. She was right in her first estimations. This was indeed a rabbit.
It continued to watch its surroundings as it slowly made its way, not eating too much in one spot. Its fur appeared to have prickly edges, as a few stalks of tall grass and weeds were sliced partially or completely as it moved.
Clearly, this was the razor checkered giant. Dayo had mentioned it, she had also heard of them before. The most commonly seen rabbits were usually skittish. This breed was not only outgoing, it even became common for graded ones to start to become omnivore.
They usually preferred plants, but they were known to eat meat if the occasion came. Which was a drastic change that normally only happened rarely. This was not an easy prey, though the end result would make it that much more worth wild.